Best Movie Mothers

As we move into Mother's Day weekend, it seemed appropriate to construct a movie list of the 10 best movie moms.

I concentrated on women whose movie roles focused mostly on them as protective/nutty/nurturing/valiant/eccentric/controlling mothers and portrayed them in the most interesting ways. I know I left many good performances out, so feel free to add your favorites in the Comments.

Looking at my list, I realized that "Best" moms is a bit misleading, since a few of these people are terrible moms. I meant best in the sense of most interesting.

1. Frances McDormand, Almost Famous. McDormand, who is great in everything, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as strong mother of teen Rolling Stone writer William Miller.

2. Angela Lansbury, The Manchurian Candidate. Lansbury is evil incarnate as the power-mad mother who sets up her brainwashed son to be an assassin and her dimwit husband to be president.

6. Shirley MacLaine, Terms of Endearment. MacLaine was great as the sometimes overbearing Aurora Greenway, alternately battling and protecting daughter Debra Winger in a role that earned MacLaine the Best Actress Oscar.

7. Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People. Moore's emotionally freeze-dried mother and wife was the character who stayed with me most memorably in this Oscar-winning family drama.

9. Sophia Loren, Two Women. It's been a long time since I saw this, but I remember Loren was amazing as a World War II widow trying to protect her daughter in impossible circumstances. She won the Oscar.

10. Julianne Moore and Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right. Lesbian mothers raise two children and cope with ordinary and not so ordinary domestic problems. They both were terrific.

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I nominate Anthony Perkins in Psycho.

Posted By: George | May 10, 2013 2:00:35 PM

I did think of that one. It's an excellent choice.

Posted By: Bill White | May 10, 2013 2:07:45 PM

Anne Ramsey, Throw Momma From the Train. She earned a best supporting actress nomination for her role as DeVito's mean mom. Went on IMDB and also found that Anne was sick during the making of this film with the throat cancer that took her life a year later.

Posted By: Don Hart | May 10, 2013 5:00:37 PM

She was scary. Who can give me her best movie role?

Posted By: Bill White | May 10, 2013 5:25:51 PM

Are you talking about the gangster mom in the Goonies? Only one I knew w/out looking it up.

Great list Bill. I'll go for some of the older films. The moms in Marty (Esther Minciotti) and A Raisin in the Sun (Claudia McNeil) were great. Can't nominate Olivia Walton so I'll submit Maureen O'Hara in Spencer's Mountain. Jane Darwell was fantastic as Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath..but the best mom of all has to be Marjorie Main as Ma Kettle mother of 15!

Posted By: Marc | May 13, 2013 7:23:35 AM

You guys offered some great alternatives. No. 11 on my list actually was Erin Brockovich.